SBIR Phase II: Computational Tool for Plasma Equipment Design Using a Non-Statistical Boltzmann Solver

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目将进一步开发、验证和演示用于等离子体设备/工艺的计算机辅助设计(CAD)工具，该工具使用非统计Boltzmann求解器来分析带电粒子动力学。第一阶段实施了新的Boltzmann模块，并清楚地展示了将Bolzmann求解器耦合到该公司的等离子体模拟器以有效描述半导体制造中使用的低压等离子体反应堆的动力学的可行性。第二阶段的项目将集中于：(1)开发速度分布函数(VDF)的椭圆表示法，可用于VDF的任意各向异性；(2)Boltzmann求解器与商业软件的完全集成；(3)工业等离子体系统的动力学模拟；以及(4)Boltzmann模块与不同研究小组开发的等离子体模拟程序的接口。使用椭圆表示将扩展Boltzmann求解器的适用范围，以解决具有任意VDF各向异性的问题，如电子束、离子动力学等。第二阶段的目标将是验证适用于各种等离子体技术的新CAD工具，并将软件应用扩展到新的行业。等离子刻蚀和化学气相沉积(CVD)设备的总商业市场目前每年超过20亿美元，并有强劲的增长前景。拟议的软件工具的商业应用将使这一市场上所有硬件设备的性能得到优化，并“巧妙”地设计新设备。预计它将为等离子设备制造商和半导体芯片生产公司“节省”数百万美元的设备和工艺开发成本。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will further develop, validate and demonstrate a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) tool for plasma equipment/processes using a non-statistical Boltzmann solver for the analysis of charged particle kinetics. Phase I implemented a new Boltzmann module and clearly demonstrated the feasibility of coupling a Bolzmann solver to the company's plasma simulator for efficient kinetic description of low-pressure plasma reactors used in semiconductor manufacturing. The Phase II project will focus on: (1) the development of elliptic representation of the velocity distribution function (VDF) valid for arbitrary anisotropy of the VDF; (2) full integration of the Boltzmann solver with a commercial software; (3) kinetic simulations for industrial plasma systems; and (4) interfacing the Boltzmann module with plasma simulation codes developed by different research groups. Using an elliptic representation will extend the applicability of the Boltzmann solver to problems with arbitrary VDF anisotropy such as electron beams, ion kinetics, etc. The goal of Phase II will be to validate the new CAD tool for wide variety of plasma technologies and expand the software usage to new industries. The total commercial markets of plasma etch and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) equipment is currently in excess of $2 billion per annum with strong projections for growth. Commercial application of the proposed software tool will allow optimization of the performance of all hardware equipment of this market and to "smartly" design new equipment. It is projected to "save" millions of dollars of equipment and process development costs to Plasma Equipment Manufacturers and to semiconductor chip producing companies.